Check it out:
Life in the Big Apple for Midwesterner from ‘Normal’ is definitely ‘no place like home’
Third and last in The Elite book series – Jennifer Banash brings us more adventures from the spoiled, rich teens in Manhattan who nearly ate Casey McCloy alive when she first arrived in the Big Apple from her small town of Normal, Illinois. Casey learned very quickly after she moved in with her grandmother at The Bramford, the most exclusive luxury apartment building on New York’s Upper East Side and got into the prestigious Meadowlark Academy on a full scholarship, that it’s not who you are but who you know!
Simply Irresistible (Penguin) brings us a whole new set of adventures now that Casey has had a big city-haute makeover, courtesy of her classmate and neighbor Madison Macallister – part teen icon and part queen diva-bitch. Wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and meeting the right people, has given Casey the look and the attitude – she’s “in” and loving it! Much to Madison’s dismay, her rival is climbing up the social ladder in a big way and could end up just as popular as Madison now that the two are set to star in their own TV reality show, “De-Luxe.” Yes, showbiz came knocking on two of The Bramford’s most illustrious doors and, as much as Madison thrives on the attention the show brings, she’s not thrilled about having every bit of her life of privilege caught on tape. However, fame comes at a price and Madison is one chick who is willing to pay anything…especially if it means becoming the next reality “it girl.” Casey, on the other hand, is realizing that Reality TV can sometimes be unreal, causing her to wonder if she even knows who she is anymore. With her relationship with Drew, Madison’s ex, currently more off than on, she can’t help wondering if everything in her life is really just an illusion – and how much longer the illusion can last….
Although The Elite series is obsessed with fashion and glamour, Branash does an impressive job of examining real issues that teens face, such as cutting, divorce, infidelity, and drug addiction. Having personally attended high school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan provided the author with the background for her ample insight and imagination portrayed in The Elite series.
"If you love all the drama, scandal, and high-end fashion of Gossip Girl...you'll want to check out...The Elite!"--Seventeen.com
"The Elite is Pretty in Pink for the millennium generation."--Romance Reviews Today
"An awesome tale of friendship and betrayal with just the right amount of humor and heart. Seriously irresistible, and impossible to put down."-Alexa Young, author of Frenemies and Faketastic
15 (NEW) FUN FACTS ABOUT JENNIFER:
1. My beagle sleeps in my bed with me, and, worse yet, he sleeps like a human--head on the pillow, body sideways. Sometimes I open my eyes in the morning and he's staring right at me, two inches from my face!
2. I'm addicted to whole fresh young coconuts, which I drink while pretending I'm on a tropical island. hey, it works for me . ..
3. I live across from the beach, and I try to go every day when I'm done working
4. I love reality TV, and watch every stupid show you can possibly think of--the more mindless the better.
5. I really, really want to go to Morocco.
6. I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert last year, and now I have a kind of girl-crush on her. I even sent her a fan email, and she wrote back! SQUEE!
7. I have long, intense conversations with my dog when no one's around. He's a very good listener.
8. When I first met my boyfriend, I wasn't interested in a relationship, and promptly jetted off to Paris. He followed me there, and I couldn't help but fall in love with him. Le sigh . . .
9. I love wine, and want to educate myself more thoroughly on vintages, regions, etc, so I can be a true wine snob.
10. I cannot ever resist a sale.
11. If I buy something I love, I have to have it in every color.
12. I'm an extremely fast reader, and can finish up to 2 books a day.
13. I just did a transcendental meditation course, and I try to meditate twice a day, for 20 minutes at a time. It has completely changed my life.
14. I love movies, and try to watch at least 2 a week.
15. I think New Years and 4th of July are pretty stupid holiday's, and generally have no idea why we bother celebrating them. Although I'm happy to have a (read ten) glass of wine . . .
You can visit Jennifer here, or The Elite series here. And never be shy to just run right out and buy the book here.
The itchy eyes and clear, if congested, head lead me to believe it's an allergic reaction to some of the natural beauty I traipsed around in up in the Bay Area last weekend. If that's the price, I have to say I'm okay with it. Wouldn't you agree?
Larkspur:
Big Sur:
J. and me in Tiburon:
Faye on her first hike in Griffith Park, Los Angeles:
And back home, my mother randomly and without warning decided it was time to get a Yorkie. Named Pudding. As in Yorkshire Pudding, of course:
All in all, an excellent weekend all around!
What do you do when you are under deadline, again? Well, I can tell you what you don't do. You don't do a lot of the housework, unless you are procrastinating, at which point scrubbing things seems like a perfect plan. You don't answer email, or voicemail. Not because you don't want to, but because it all gets swept away in the shallow-breathing and sweaty-palm stuff. You spend long hours weeping over your keyboard, torn between wanting to hit your daily word quotas and wanting the book to be, you know, good. Fearing the twain are never to meet. You consume your body weight in caffeine, and that's just in the morning to get going. You cannot stop eating. Especially if what you are eating contains a high level of sugar and/or chocolate. You periodically disconnect your computer from the internet, or at least from email, and allow yourself only strictly monitored forays into anything else. I.e., research sites only, no Facebook or Twitter. You forget how to speak to your spouse, much less your friends. You find yourself staring off to space in the middle of conversations, sorting out some plot or character arc in your head. You are certainly unpredictable, and undependable. You might be where you said you'd be at such and such time--but on the other hand, you might forget all about it. Or the very idea of leaving your desk may fill you with agitation. Not because you're so excited with the writing happening at that desk, but because the one thing you know to be true about anywhere that is not your desk is that you will not be adding to your word or page count. You stay up too late and get up too early and sometimes even dream stressful dreams involving your book. And on and on this goes, as you become more and more like a grunting cave person the closer you get to your deadline.
This is why, when you ask a writer if they adequately recognize how lovely and sweet their life is--since they get to loll about at home typing as the muse hits, dressed in pajamas if they like, answerable to no one and nothing-- they smile that private smile and agree with you in that unsatisfying way.
We all have fantasies about that writing life, you see. The trouble is, most of us have one or two days like that a year. The rest? A descent into madness and despair, complete with cave person tendencies.
- 06:17 It's July this week. This book is due in July. Cue panic attack... #
- 16:18 To walk to Whole Foods for cookies or not to walk to Whole Foods for cookies? So goes my afternoon. (Ps: I hate my book.) #
- 12:13 My cats weigh 16, 14, and 11 pounds. That is over 40 pounds of cat, all of it fat, ornery, and annoying. #
- 18:33 twitpic.com/8pywo - This is what 16 pounds of cat looks like. We call him Puck. #
(Picture by ALB)
- 17:27 Last night watched Gran Torino and then Princess Protection Program. Both were excellent, for entirely different reasons. #
- 11:25 New Miyazaki film this summer-- I can't wait: tinyurl.com/l6hqam #
- 14:05 @dpeterfreund Yes! I always wondered that myself. She was awful, and he should have known better, surely. #veronicamars #
- 14:05 Am so sleepy today that cannot tell if writing is coming out in English. Maybe that's why I kind of like it. #
- 12:24 @Keris Right? It's glorious! #
- 12:30 @Keris I don't think I ever heard of either of them before my friend sent me the link to that song yesterday. Now? Obsessed. #
- 12:38 @Keris That is the only Dr. Who I watched. But I am not as into Dr. Who as I am into Christopher Eccleston. #
- 13:27 @Keris Um, no. You did not tell me that. Sigh. #
- 14:48 @Keris I think I just fainted. Which is also what I would have done if I'd seen the man myself. #
- 14:49 @Keris Which is not unlike what I did when I met Joss Whedon, and said hi, but at a pitch only dolphins can hear. #
I cannot bring myself to post a picture because of said cow resemblance. I am wearing them right now, and it is not even remotely cold. They are medicinal this morning--soothing the many blisters I got from running all over Santa Monica last night in fabulous-looking yet highly impractical shoes. Shoes made for standing, not walking. Sadly, I both stood and walked, and am now paying the price. This is the truth that chick lit novels fail to mention: shoes hurt. As my mother used to say, you have to be brave to be beautiful.
And if you while away your beauty hangovers with Fuggly boots, all the better.
In other news, my publishing dreams have finally come true.
Yes, I have received my very own invitation to the Harlequin party at the RWA National Conference! No more sneaking in with friends, crashing on the sly, and lurking about guiltily. Everyone knows that Harlequin throws the best party. Last year there were even fake trees, one of which toppled over. What's better than that?
I am not going to RWA this summer (because I have a book due approximately five minutes after the conference and I know myself well enough to know that I would not get any work done while AT the conference) but if I was, I would be legit! (Or anyway, Caitlin Crews would be. That chick has pull.)
- 07:59 Today, seriously, this manuscript and I are going to have to Come To Terms. #
- 08:01 I have always loathed Uggs. Yet after freezing to death on camping trip this past weekend, have finally caved and bought cheap knock offs. #
- 08:01 I am deeply ashamed of myself. But my feet will be warm in future! #
- 08:09 @shellistevens The hideousness is what I can't get past. But the cheap knock off price was right! #
- 11:32 RT: @StaceyKade "From my calendar: There are 2 ways of controlling a woman--call her fat or call her selfish." Why do we fall for it? #
- 11:33 @rachelkvincent I am terrified. If Marc dies I honestly don't know what I will do! #
- 11:38 Love this article on Writing (or Not Writing) Time: tinyurl.com/mh2ox5 #
- 14:01 The next time I want to cheat, I'm going to say I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail instead, to throw people off. B/c that's not suspicious. #
- 17:36 Don't wish to get cocky and attract notice of the capricious writing gods, but I think I might have figured this WIP out. Finally. #
Or not even genius. Today I would be happy with a solid word count.
Yesterday I spent a long time on the phone with my friend Jane Porter, who read my pages and helped me brainstorm what was missing in them. Because I knew something was missing. (Which I guess is better than not knowing something is missing, right?)
Every time I give someone pages when I know something's not working, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I sort of hope the pages are so compelling that the reader doesn't notice the little missing thing. (Like, to pull an example at random, the hero's motivation for being there in the first place. That little old thing.) But on the other hand, better to be caught and called on it now, rather than, say, in a review later on when the book is published and I can't do anything about it.
Because the truth is, I always know that I can do better. Write a more compelling scene, make better choices, raise the stakes, create more wide-ranging and upsetting consequences for the characters' actions. And sometimes I just need to be pushed a little bit to get there.
It helps when the person doing the pushing has published roughly fifteen gazillion books in the same vein. It gives the help that extra little bit of authority.
Thank you, Jane.
Now I just have to do it.
- 12:36 I am in love with this, though not in love with the ending: bit.ly/2jkULd (I don't think Buffy would kill Edward, though she COULD.) #
- 13:17 @michellerowen My thoughts exactly! Buffy likes pretty things, and stalkery vamps. That's just how she's wired. #
- 13:22 OMG: Dorota! @dorotanyc #gossipgirl #
- 13:24 Luckily, the city of LA has chosen to operate a wood chipper directly outside my window. How soothing. #
- 12:21 Am preparing to go camping. Obvs, am donning a bandanna. Why? Because that is what you do when you go camping. I just follow the rules. #
Don't Stop Believin' (Glee Cast Version)--Glee Cast
Come As You Are--Nirvana
I Know You Won't--Carrie Underwood
Frozen--Madonna
You Can Do Better Than Me--Death Cab for Cutie
The Wrong Girl--Missy Higgins
Black Heart Inertia--Incubus
Shattered (Turn the Car Around)--O.A.R.
Roadsinger--Yusuf
Duet (with Ray LaMontagne) --Rachael Yamagata (live)
L.A. Forever--The Low Stars
Make This Go On Forever--Snow Patrol
Never Say Never--The Fray
All We Are--OneRepublic
Adventures In Solitude--The New Pornographers
Show Me What I'm Looking For--Carolina Liar
Never Tear Us Apart--INXS
Somewhere Over the Rainbow--Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Winding Road--Bonnie Somerville
Lost--Coldplay
Can't Go Back Now--The Weepies
This Years Love--David Gray
Steer--Missy Higgins
What have we learned from this collection of songs? That I like to brood about complicated romantic relationships, and that I like to listen to anthems that make me think I am starring in CW dramas, preferably with Chuck Bass racing to my side, through the rain, on a Manhattan street. Not that I have imagined that, or anything.
Have a great weekend!
And yesterday, the perfect trip up the coast to Santa Barbara with Liza Palmer:
Bliss. Happy birthday to me.
- 18:23 If my WIP was a person we would definitely be in a fight. A physical one. And I wouldn't be afraid to go a little ninja on it, either. #
- 08:30 @KeiraSoleore Not me. I am a fan of the bashless birthday. #
- 09:42 I don't know why I say "it's a short book" like that makes any difference. Shorter just means more intense, and less room to faff about. #
I hate when the tea doesn't work. What then, morning? What's left?
Sadly, I no longer drink coffee. Let's not talk about it. Well, okay, briefly: I first quit coffee when I quit smoking cigarettes. My morning routine used to be a pot of espresso (yes, a pot) and a few cigarettes. There are actually few things in this world as satisfying (and as bad for your health) as morning espresso and chain-smoking cigarettes. But I quit smoking because I wished to grow a little older, and it turned out that without taste buds deadened by nicotine, I could not handle the morning espresso routine. So sad. I turned to tea. Since I lived in England at the time, the switch was remarkably easy, as they know their tea over there. (I've given up caffeine at different points too. It's lovely, and then I fly to a different time zone and jet lag hits and that's the end of that.) I've gone back to coffee at different points, but am now off it again, and back to tea. Delicious, bracing tea. No herbal crap. Which reminds me, I need another cup. (Also, that was not brief.)
My birthday is coming up very very fast, and what that means around here is that I like to make birthday mixes I will then listen to while driving. Preferably at night. Generally, I prefer moody and introspective to bouncy and delightful, but I am open to anything. What's your favorite sit and think about the fact I am another year older song? What should I put on my 2009 Birthday Mix? Leave me your recommendations in the comments!
- 09:21 Hello, manuscript. We meet again. #
- 13:09 @LaurenBarnholdt Yes. Yes, it is. I love it so. #
- 16:55 At part of rewrite when you can see the book as it should be. Usually followed by the crushing knowledge that you lack skill to get there. #
- 18:15 @KwanaWrites Well, I'm a big fan of yours. So there's that. #
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